Way Back Into Love
by TrishLove
Summary: They stayed that way for a moment. Two empty people staring at each other in a gloomy yet busy sidewalk of lively strangers. Vintif


**A/N:** The moment I heard **Way Back Into Love** by **Hugh Grant** and **Hayden Bennet** I immediately thought of Vincent and Tifa. It's a very nice song! This is a one-shot songfic which took place two years after AC. It's not related to DOC, though. Enjoy!

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_I've been living with a shadow overhead_

_I've been sleeping with a cloud above my bed_

_I've been lonely for so long_

_Trapped in the past_

_I just can't seem to move on_

Tifa Lockheart was aimlessly walking on the almost cramped sidewalk of Edge. The sun refused to shine that day. It was cloudy and very gloomy. People were heading towards their own destination to get on with their businesses, whatever they were. She, however, was simply just strolling alone. She wasn't going anywhere. Unlike the strangers who passed her by, she was aimless, unoccupied and had no plans to go anywhere or do anything. She felt like an empty individual in a busting city full of _living_ people. She somewhat felt like a ghost.

But that's what she wanted to feel like in the first place. It sounds nice to be ghost. You can live yet feel nothing towards anything. You can just be around anyone and yet never be bothered. As a ghost, you're just a numb individual watching everything that occurs in the bothered and cruel world. You're not sad, but you're not happy, either. She'd give up her happiness just to end her misery.

_Cloud…_

_I've been hiding all my hopes and dreams away_

_Just in case I ever need them again someday_

_I've been setting aside time_

_To clear a little space in the corners of my mind_

They say you can achieve anything as long as you do your best in attaining it. Tifa felt stupid for even falling for that one. She did everything she can; gave everything she had just to get one thing she had always yearned for. No matter how much she was hurting during the process she knew she had to be patient and keep trying. She was holding on the very last inch of the brink, but she still struggled to hold on. And yet she still fell off the cliff.

It didn't work. He walked out the door that night after a hug and a simple goodbye. He will keep searching for someone who didn't exist in the physical world anymore. Cloud never grew up; always been a stubborn man. It's a joke to fall for a stubborn man; a cruel joke.

But his departure had been so long ago. Two years, yet to her it felt like it was yesterday. She was still in the same emotional condition. She just can't seem to forget everything that happened to her. It had always been attached to her like a parasite. Everyday still seemed like a hollow and meaningless slice of life. She wondered if there is ever a way the burden on her shoulders would finally be lifted. She wondered… If she was ever gonna love again.

_All I wanna do is find a way back into love_

_I can't make it through without a way back into love_

Vincent Valentine, three pieces of blood-red roses in hand, was about to return to the mansion in the rubbles of Nibleheim. It's funny how he was willing to travel that far just to buy roses. Among all the rare flowers known the rose was the rarest of them. He had to travel to Edge just to buy them. And as he was walking on a very busy sidewalk and took a look at the flowers he bought, he knew his long travel was worth it.

He bought them to fill an empty antique vase in the mansion. He can't tolerate its emptiness due to its timeless beauty. Aside from that, the roses would give a little bit of atmospheric boost in the room. The mansion is beginning to look too dark and stale for him.

He took a look at the roses again and sighed. Lucrecia probably gave her one of those before, but as she had so clearly said it, she gave it to him as a friendly gift.

_I've been watching but the stars refuse to shine_

_I've been searching but I just don't see the signs_

_I know that it's out there_

_There's got to be something for my soul somewhere_

Lucrecia; the girl who lived in his haunting past and his dreams. The main reason for everything he had become. Everything she is ever possessed of expressed beauty and elegance. Such a dream woman could only sound too good to be true. The fact is, she really is; for she belonged to someone else.

She said she was taken, yet she kept seducing Valentine and reeling him under her irresistible charms. Right before he can actually reach wherever she was guiding him towards, she'd stop and say she changed her mind. After that she'd tell him she really loved Hojo after all. Go figure.

Her biggest mistake was passed on to him with a much bigger impact. Her death inflicted _death_ on him as well. He would always be dead, even if he can breathe, think or talk. The vivid nightmare will always be in his mind, replaying whenever it feels like it. The demons in his head will always be laughing. Her mistake would always be his biggest sin.

There was a time that he swore to himself never to care for anyone again. He realized that it would only lead to one's self-destruction. He knew a lot of people who were victimized by this. The Lockheart woman, for example. He can see the hurt she tries to conceal behind her beautiful smile. It always made him wonder how she can manage to always smile. As she picked up the pieces of her heart that _he_ unknowingly broke, she is _still_ smiling. One more thing that made him wonder about her is just how genuine her smiles looked like. However, no matter how real her smile seemed to be her tired eyes still told the truth. Clearly, she had shed more tears than she can handle. The poor girl.

Another victim is Cloud Strife. Due to his devotion towards a dead woman, he decided to isolate himself from anyone, even the woman who so loved him, in order to look for someone who is literally dead. He wouldn't listen to anyone. In his somewhat bothered mind she would always be alive somewhere. He had become aloof and selfish, forgetting the fact that there are people who needed him as well.

Aside from them, there are still so many people whom he knew had destroyed themselves due to this thing they call… love.

_I've been looking for someone to shed some light_

_Not somebody just to get me through the night_

_I could use some direction_

_And I'm open to your suggestions_

However, he noticed that he couldn't find any sensible reason why had been living a life of nightmares and loneliness. It took him a long while to admit to himself that he was lonely. It took him an even longer while to admit that he somewhat felt tired of feeling _nothing. _Everyday he felt nothing but the sneers of the demons living inside him. It actually made him restless. It made him more tired than he should be. He realized that indeed, no man can live like an island. And he knew that it's about time he let go of the past he had always been replaying and replaying for such a long time.

While he was continuously walking along the sidewalk, he saw something that caught his eye. Among the sea of people going thru and fro he saw someone very familiar, walking towards him. _It's that Lockheart girl._

_All I want to do is find a way back into love_

_I can't make it through without a way back into love_

Tifa stopped dead in her tracks when she saw him looking right at her. It had been a long time since they've last seen each other. She didn't expect to see him again on the busy sidewalks of Edge while holding some roses. Tifa almost gave a small laugh. A tall and handsome man with long dark hair holding three pieces of blood-red roses; sounds like those guys from romantic novels. _He looks good holding those anyway_, she noticed.

They stayed that way for a moment. Two empty people staring at each other in a gloomy yet busy sidewalk of lively strangers. After such a long time Tifa smiled genuinely. "Vincent Valentine…"

_And if I open my heart to you_

_I'm hoping you'll show me what to do_

_And if you help me to start again_

_You know that I'll be there for you in the end_

**A/N:** Review if you can please! I need them so I can know how it went. Thx!


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